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Columns/Opinions

Civic leaders in Dallas and Houston waited nervously on Apr. 2, 1914 for the decision on which of Texas’ two largest cities had been awarded the new federal bank.

The rash of bank failures caused by the Panic of 1907 underscored the urgent need for effective monitoring and management of the national money supply. To avert future crises, the country required a bank for the banks.

AUSTIN — A state budget for fiscal years 2018-2019 cleared the first in a series of hurdles when the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved committee substitute Senate Bill 1 on March 22.

The legislation next moves to the full Senate for consideration.

“This budget remains a work in progress, but we will continue our work to make the most of every dollar, meet our priority needs and keep Texas moving in the right direction,” said Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson, RFlower Mound. “This committee left no stone unturned looking for savings, examining our budget drivers and looking for ways to make smarter use of our limited resources.”

AUSTIN — The Senate Finance Committee, at work on the 2018-2019 state budget since January, on March 16 approved workgroup recommendations in preparation for a final vote.

Committee Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said she expects her panel to vote on the state budget, Senate Bill 1, this week, March 20-24 After the committee votes, the next step for the budget is consideration by the full Senate.

Waddy Thompson did not let the fact that he had been a private citizen for two weeks keep him from asking one more life-saving favor of Santa Anna on Mar. 23, 1844.

Texans naively presumed their neighbors in New Mexico would jump at the chance to join the Lone Star Republic. So, in the summer of 1841, President Mirabeau Lamar sent more than 300 soldiers, merchants and a grab bag of adventurers to deliver an engraved invitation and to stake Texas’ claim to the lucrative trade of the Santa Fe Trail.

That pretty much sums up the health care reform bill unveiled by the U.S. House of Representatives last Monday that purports to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.” Although it does eliminate a lot of Obamacare’s tangle of taxes, the House proposal retains the federal government’s fundamental role in health care. It therefore maintains the vast regulatory regimen that increases costs, and it does nothing to reverse the downward spiral of health insurance markets.

It transforms the ACA’s mandate to buy insurance into a surcharge on anyone who doesn’t maintain continuous coverage. That’s supposed to discourage healthy adults from leaving insurance rolls, where their premiums are needed to help pay for the sick. But that penalty might disincentivize healthy people who had already left from getting back on the rolls.

AUSTIN — Three of Texas’ 36 congressional districts are unconstitutional because of racial or political gerrymandering, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled on March 10.

The judges ruled 2-1 that the districts’ boundaries, drawn by the Texas Legislature in 2011 and 2013, violate the U.S. Constitution.

AUSTIN — Texans who rely on Planned Parenthood as a medical care provider won’t have to seek those services elsewhere, pending an upcoming trial.

In the lawsuit titled Planned Parenthood et al. v. Texas Health and Human Services Commission, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin on Feb. 21 granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the Texas Department of Health and Human Services from eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood in the state’s 2017-18 budget.

There is no legitimate public interest in allowing Texas to complete its planned terminations (of funding) based on the current facts,” wrote Sparks. “Instead, the public interest favors enforcing the individual plaintiffs’ rights and avoiding disrupting the health care of some of Texas’s most vulnerable individuals.”

Shortly after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, the incident that triggered America's first war in the Middle East, the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution allowing Western naval forces operating in the Persian Gulf to enforce an economic embargo against the Iraqi strongman, in the hope a blockade would force Saddam to withdraw. As he mulled over the potential consequences, President George H.W. Bush got some advice from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. "This is no time to go wobbly, George," Thatcher told Bush.

It's too bad Lady Thatcher isn't around to offer some contemporary Republicans the same advice.

In recent days, as Congress took its first recess of the year, GOP lawmakers have become surrogates for hostile crowds at home that are intent on venting their anger at President Donald Trump's actions and agenda. That is, at least the ones who show up.

AUSTIN — Texans who rely on Planned Parenthood as a medical care provider won’t have to seek those services elsewhere, pending an upcoming trial.

In the lawsuit titled Planned Parenthood et al. v. Texas Health and Human Services Commission, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin on Feb. 21 granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the Texas Department of Health and Human Services from eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood in the state’s 2017-18 budget.

“There is no legitimate public interest in allowing Texas to complete its planned terminations (of funding) based on the current facts,” wrote Sparks.

For years, U.S. presidents have complained that the members of NATO refuse to kick in as much as American taxpayers do in providing for Europe's defense. Let us hope President Trump succeeds in his efforts to nudge them to pay their fair share. It's time for these very wealthy nations to pull their weight.

NATO is a 28-nation alliance that was built to stop aggression from the Soviet Union in its tracks. An attack on any one member is regarded as an attack on all.

It was founded when Europe was still trying to dig out from World War II. Those days are gone. But NATO members have found it easier to play America for a sucker than to fund their own defense.